Jezebel snarled as she stared at the cowardly man hiding behind that word. God, even if he was human she would have gladly just forgotten all about his presence. He was obviously not worth her time. He was one of those thin, frightful types that attempted to stand up for “justice” whenever it suited them. It was rather foolish and something that just angered the Amazon beyond all reason. But still, he could easily have been overlooked.

But what he said could not be excused. He had no right to speak to her like that. Humans had no right to speak to mutants at all! It was like a roach trying to start a conversation with a human; absolutely and totally beneath them.

Upon reaching him, she placed her hands angrily at her hips and glared down at his diminutive stature. Did he have the guts to repeat himself now that she was close?

>> “Uh..b-back off! The police will be here soon! I already called them!”

She rolled her eyes. “Pathetic!” she growled and suddenly reached out, snatching the word out of his hands.

Curiously she held it up and began to inspect it as the man squeaked (whether in fear or anger, she didn’t know). It had a strange texture, but what she couldn’t figure out was where did he get it? Did he just make it at home and parade it around, waiting for the perfect opportunity? The pig. She turned her attention back to him and held the word up.

“You little rat,”[/b] she growled. “Don’t you DARE ever address me like that again? You understand me!?

She show him. She’d drill it into his head to have much better manners. And she’d do it with the help of this sign!! Lifting it up, she gave the young man another glance before snarling and bringing it down with all her strength.

>> “You little rat…Don’t you DARE ever address me like that again? You understand me!?

SMASH!!

Vicente felt it hit his back. And while the sign that the red Amazon carried hurt, it was not enough to divert his momentum. He had quickly pieced together what had occurred between the two of them while he was out. He awoke just in time to see the young girls he saw the Amazon harassing before he was sent sailing running out the back door. The wiry guy must had distracted the woman long enough to give them an escape. But that left him with no alternative than to face the angry woman.

Vicente knew that was his cue.

He waited until she lifted the word and momentarily blocked him from view. When she had, he had dashed forward as best he could before finally hurling himself into her mid-section. Though he was injured, and she was far bigger than him, Vicente still managed to tackle her quite effectively. She was only a foot taller than him, but it still felt like he had thrown himself against a well made brick wall. Thankfully, she gave.

The word smashed on his back and Vicente growled but held tight to her as they both tumbled down onto the ground. And what a mighty quake that followed was it. Vicente could feel the vibrations shake through the floor but just as suddenly as they had occurred, they ended. The young Chimera took only a second to catch his breath before he rolled off to the side and onto his feet.

Blinking away the daze, he glared at the woman and snarled.

“Think again, lady,” he said as he held his fists up. “You got a problem with anyone, take it up with the guy you sucker punched!”

Akshay was fully expecting to meet his end. He saw her lift the word, he waited to feel it collide with his skull, but when he heard the SMASH, he felt no pain. That was odd. He knew that those words he created could hurt, but why was he feeling no pain? His eyes shot open and he saw only empty space in front of him. The woman was gone? But how?

He then glanced to the side. Oh! She had apparently been tackled! Nice! He breathed a momentary sigh of relief and quickly raced his mind for some answer to their problem. Though he wanted to help, he knew he couldn’t do anything to the red woman. But that man who tackled her surely couldn’t face her on his own, right? She was massive and clearly that man’s superior. Akshay had a bad feeling that someone was going to die here.

And he didn’t mean her! No, he needed to intervene, but how?

His thoughts raced again. He knew how well his plan went down the last time, but surely he could be of more use now?

>> “Think again, lady…You got a problem with anyone, take it up with the guy you sucker punched!”

“Umm,” he watched the man charge before he suddenly shouted. “I’ll get help!” he announced before suddenly dashing past them. That was helpful, right? He was helping!

Jezebel growled, opened her eyes, and saw that she was now looking at the ceiling of the dark theater. How in the hell did she get here? She growled as she sat up and instantly saw the bald headed man rolling onto his feet and the wiry guy standing there a little dumbfounded. What the hell? Had the bald guy actually just launched himself at her? Damn he was pretty solid. She didn’t think that he could ever have gotten up again after that punch she had delivered. Guy must have a helmet inside his skull.

Whatever. She’d still crush it.

She slowly moved onto her feet as the bald man locked eyes with her. He definitely wanted blood…and that made her grin.

>> “Think again, lady…You got a problem with anyone, take it up with the guy you sucker punched!”

>> “Umm…I’ll get help!”

“Oh sweetie,”[/b] she cackled as she stretched up to her full height. “I haven’t even begun to start playing!” [/b]

Grabbing a seat from nearby, Jezebel easily ripped it out of the ground and gave it a solid throw straight towards the bald man. She was satisfied when she saw it graze the side of his head, and even more so when it managed to knock the legs out from under the Indian kid. That made her laugh out loud.

“HEheheahaheaheheheaheah!!! PLAY TIME!!!”[/b]

>> “Oh sweetie…I haven’t even begun to start playing!” [/b]

Vicente barely had the time to move. For the woman’s height and stature, she was surprisingly fast. While he would have loved to have taken the offense here, the sight of her ripping out that chair from the ground was more than enough to divert his attentions. Spots of torn carpet, bits of plastic, all scattered around in the dull glow of the theater screen as the woman lifted the seat. He only had fractions of a second to attempt to turn.

It was fractions of a second he was thankful for.

The seat went sailing and Vicente had barely managed to turn away to avoid being hit. He felt the scrap against his cheek, which momentarily sent him to his knee, but that was all. Instead of dwelling on the woman’s strength for too long, he dove into his pocket and immediately pulled out a black folding knife he had hidden within. The blade was small but it was sharp. He knew that it was probably illegal to carry it, but after his incident with Adonis, he really just didn’t care. He needed to defend himself.

Today he definitely needed to defend himself. Knife in hand, Vicente flipped the blade open and held it threateningly towards the woman.

Without a word, he charged for her, little care for his own life right now and focused only on the bloodlust that was beginning to jab at the back of his mind.

FHUMP!!!

Akshay gasped as he felt someone heavy and hard collide with his legs. The young wordsmith had nearly made it out of the theater when suddenly he was struck and he stumbled down to the sticky, bad smelling carpet. He groaned and winced as he moved his legs. They weren’t broken but something heavy was definitely on them. God, was it her?! Did she just take some flying leap and collide with him to keep him from getting help! God, no!! He was so young!

“Don’t kill me!!” he shouted and flailed in defense.

But no death came.

Slowly he cautioned opening one eye and found that he was still in his same position, staring at the ground with the sounds of the movie and fighting echoing all around him. Turning onto his back, he sat up and sighed in relief. The object that hit him was only a chair from the theater. It was still rather disturbing how easily such a huge thing was tossed but at least it wasn’t that woman!

Speaking of...

A glance up and he blinked in disbelief. Was that bald guy actually engaging in hand-to-hand fighting with that red Amazon? Just…insane!! With the two of them distracted, Akshay struggled out from under the chair and made a bee line for the door. He had to get help!

She was surprised. She really had thought that her little display of strength back there would have sent the young man running. While that effect did seem to make the wiry man run, the bald man was sticking around and seemed intent to challenge her. While he was strong and well-built, Jezebel had taken down stronger looking people without batting an eye. But it seemed as if this guy was full of surprises!

The first surprise came in the small knife that he managed to produce from his pocket. That was nothing to worry about. But combine that with the speed and dexterity that the kid seemed to display and Jezebel was officially colored impressed! He dodged, he weaved, he jabbed at, all almost as if it were second nature. Just who was this guy? Maybe she should be getting some tips from him rather than trying to rip his head off.

But ah well. Ripping off people’s head was just too much fun!

She cackled manically every time she felt that knife cut her skin but it produced no blood. The wound appeared but with no crimson liquid to add to the damage, who’s to say it even mattered? She shrugged it off as she kept trying to get her hands on him. But he seemed to have much more skill than he was letting on.

“Hold still, you little punk!”[/b] she snarled and lashed out again. But, still, he managed to evade her grasp. She grinned wide through her frustration. “I have to admit, there’s more to you than I thought.”[/b] She feigned a right cross and when he dodged, she immediately kicked out and planted her heel hard into his sternum.

He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Giggling like mad, she quickly pressed her foot down onto his chest and leaned over, grinning at him. “Gotcha.”[/b]

He was like a man possessed. Vicente didn’t know what came over him but the second he ran at her, everything clicked. He saw her movements and could immediately interpret her intentions. He dodged, expertly, weaved in and out of her punches and kicks, and managed to get in several attacks of his own. But it seemed as if it didn’t matter. With every slash and stab, there didn’t seem to be any recognition by the giant red woman.

But he couldn’t stop. Even if he wasn’t hurting her, he had to keep her distracted and contained! Until he could figure out a better plan, this was all he had.

>> “Hold still, you little punk! I have to admit, there’s more to you than I thought.”[/b][/i]

He smirked as he continued to weave in and out of her strikes. Deep down, he was curious as to how easily he could do all this but he knew that right now was not the best time to pry. Maybe it had something to do with his past, but that was not important. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted with such thoughts and, instead, needed to just focus on the task at ha—OOMP!![/b]

The air left his lungs. Suddenly he was down like a sack of potatoes. He felt his knife leave his hand the second he doubled over due to the heel planted in his stomach. Once on the ground, that same foot was pressed hard down onto his chest.

>> “Gotcha.”[/b][/i]

He grumbled as he felt the woman add more weight to her foot and could feel nearly all the air in his lungs want to escape. She was trying to crush him! Panicked, he looked up at that malevolent, dark, face and imagined all the horrors and atrocities she could commit if she were allowed to leave. She had no qualms about killing people and it seemed that that sentiment also included kids. It was probably that thought that set him off. That caused that audible SNAP[/b] in his ears.

The tingle rode up through his spine and erupted throughout his limbs. He gasped in pain and growled as he felt all his bones cracking and shifting at once. His arms were on fire and his head was ablaze with pain. But it was a familiar pain, one that he was more than grateful to accept right now, rather what was being brought on by this red Amazon.

With a gasp and a roar, Vicente felt his limbs and head changing, reshaping, spouting fur, or suckers, or fangs, or claws. It was just the ace he needed. Taking the woman off guard, Vicente roared menacingly as he reached over with his tiger’s claw and dug the black daggers straight into the woman’s calf and tore down with all his might.

She yelled out and stepped away, giving Vicente just enough room to scramble onto his two feet. The mismatch of creatures that made up the young chimera looked terrifying in the flickering light of the theater. Enough to force the woman to pause, and given Vicente the opportunity to charge again.

He was taking her down, one way or the other…

Out he ran! Akshay was not the type of guy to not help out when he needed to, but he knew that there was no contribution he could have made to that battle. He could only hope that the bald guy was going to survive long enough for the authorities to get there. But, really, what were the odds of that? That woman seemed so damn strong that she probably could have killed him if she really wanted to. But what could he do?

No, he was out. He could get help. That is what he could do.

Standing out in the lobby, Akshay saw that the theater was mostly deserted now. Outside the glass doors he could see the people gathered, huddled together, crying and pointing to the theater about the scary event that had just occurred. He was just about to join them when he ground to a halt, hearing the sounds of the sirens closing in. Thank goodness! It seemed like someone DID call the police! Now, they just needed get here before that guy got himself killed.

He jogged towards the doors to exit and join everyone when—

ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!!

He flinched. Was that a freakin’ BEAR roar!? What the…

A glance at the glass doors, and another to the entrance to the movie he just left and he felt himself torn. Was that guy in trouble? Could he do anything? His shoulders slumped; he didn’t know what to do…

Definitely full of surprises. Jezebel actually found herself backing away when she watched the man, who had moments ago been withering until he heel, changed into a nightmarish looking beast. The creature straightened up into a sitting position before moving to stand. She watched the coiling arm of an octopus, the arching claws of a blue furred tiger, and the open maw of a bear all aimed menacingly at her. This guy, was a mutant? It seemed like he shifted parts of his body into animal parts but they were all still on the trunk and legs of a muscular man.

Jezebel found herself just a tad worried. She didn’t like fighting mutants, especially since their numbers were so low and scattered when compared to humans. But at the same time, this guy tried to ruin her fun and she couldn’t allow that. Not even if he was a misguided mutant!

She snarled as she clenched her fists and looked down to the chimera and the wound he had inflicted on her leg. The gashes were deep and penetrating, but luckily they had not struck the little treasure inside her body. Had his claws even touched Penelope, well, that would be fight over. She was not going to give in to a uninformed mutant.

“Stop it,”[/b] she snarled and kept her defenses up. “You’re a mutant, like me. We shouldn’t fight like this. You need to understand, humans are not worth us shedding our own blood. Think, brother! We need to ban together! Not tear each other down!”[/b]

She didn’t know if she could get through to him. She hoped that she did. But judging by his posture, she was fairly certain that he wasn’t listening to a word she said. That thought alone pissed her off. She hated it when people didn’t listen to her. But what she hated more was fighting other mutants. And judging by the look on his grizzly face, he was intent on a fight.

“STOP!” she shouted in anger. Her eyes began to glow heatedly.

But he didn’t listen. He charged. Jezebel had no other option than to raise her fist…

It was a blur. All Vicente knew was that the red woman in front of him was his target and he needed to do everything in his power to bring her down. She had to be stopped. She was a menace, a threat, a monster…he stopped monsters.

A bellowing roar escaped his gapping mouth as he stared at the woman. She held her hands, trying to look as if she were going to back down. But everything in the back of his bloodlust addled mind told him that she was probably lying. She was the type of person who would say anything to disengage from a battle she was losing. He got her good with his claws but again he saw no blood. He was just going to have to dig a little deeper then, wasn’t he?

>> “Stop it…You’re a mutant, like me. We shouldn’t fight like this. You need to understand, humans are not worth us shedding our own blood. Think, brother! We need to ban together! Not tear each other down!”[/b][/i]

He tilted his head. Brother? Did she really just call him, brother? Was she trying to unite them under the banner of mutanthood when the truth of the matter was that she was a psychopath? He was nothing like her. And he never would be. He snarled and arched his claws as he took more steps towards her, glaring straight into the soulless blight of her yellow eyes.

>> “STOP!”

“The only thing stopping…is YOU!” he snarled and suddenly ran straight for her.

The battle that followed was bloody and epic. Vicente had dove her mid-section, and felt her fist collide with his left shoulder. The crack that followed indicted that something in his body was not fractured but the man didn’t care. Instead he merely used the pain to full his hate towards the woman. He lashed out, cut and bit whatever came into his proximity. The woman was a damn good fighter as well. Her punches were well placed and Vicente was sure that she had broken a bone or two of his, but there was such a rage between the two of them that neither was going to back down.

Finally, through all the spilling of blood, the bruising, the exhaustion that set in, Vicente saw his chance. After collapsing to the ground due to a particularly nasty gut punch, Vicente found himself on his knees, struggling to catch his breath while the gashed up Amazon loomed above him, taking a second herself to do the same. While she was distracted, he found the will to suddenly snap forward and wrap his jaws around the woman’s knee. With a hard twist and pull, he rended flesh and muscle. Even she had to feel that as she gasped and fell back onto the ground with a hard thud.

“AHHHHH!!!!” she screamed and held her ruined leg.

Taking the second, Vicente spat out the odd tasting flesh and quickly pounced upon her, wrapping his octopus tentacle around her neck and pulling back his tiger’s claw. He would tear her heart out, if that’s what it took to stop her.

“ENOUGH!!” he snarled and made ready to strike. He was ending this now.

Back into the theater he ran. The cops outside the theater were barely pulling to a stop but he doubted they would get there in time if the bald guy was already suffering under the hands of that red Amazon. That meant that he was going to have to interfere. He shouldn’t have let that man take on the woman alone. He knew that he shouldn’t have. But hopefully he can, in some way, make up for it now.

Running back in, though, he immediately saw that his help wasn’t really needed. It seemed as if that guy was a mutant! A chimera-like beast was placed in the guy’s torn and bloody clothes and it seemed as if he really had the red woman contained. She was strong and powerful, but none of that seemed to stop the man to getting in his swipes and bites whenever he could. It got to the point that Akshay actually thought that maybe he was going to win!

Then the woman dropped him with a punch. Akshay began to jog further down the aisle, but skidded to a halt when the man suddenly bit into her knee and twisted so hard that even AKSHAY could have felt it. He winced as the woman went down and sighed in relief. That had to be it, right?

No. Now the man was on top of her, claws reared back, choking the life out of her. He wanted her dead! Crap! He didn’t know!!

Akshay ran with all of his might. Muttering a quick word and snatching it out of the air.

>> “ENOUGH!!”

The claws went down, the red woman was barely paying attention, and Akshay dove in front, holding up the word “CHILD” like the shield between the two. Claws raked across the word and Akshay breathed sharply, hoping that the word would hold up. When it did, he peeked over the edge and spied the bear face glaring back at him. Akshay spoke fast.

“Stop! You need to stop! She’s only a little girl! She…turned into this thing. I saw it from my seat! Her friends were forcing her to watch the movie and, I don’t know, but she changed into this woman! It’s not her fault! Stop it, or you’ll kill her!”

It seemed as if his words came at just the right time. As he spoke them, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Glancing down, he saw red receding, disappearing from view and collapsing the once muscular body into a pool of red ooze on the ground. It was enough to make him dance back in fear. His eyes never left her though. He watched as the red melted away, leaving the same young girl he saw earlier in its place. The red climbed upon her body and disappeared into her pores, soon leaving only a young, unconscious girl behind.

He breathed in relief. That was too close.

You’re out of control.

I was only having a little bit of fun. They’re the ones that ruined it.[/b]

No. you almost got me killed. That isn’t fun, Jezebel!

Temper, Temper…unless you really want me to go after them…[/b]

…

I thought so. Let’s just call this one a draw, shall we? Hehehe…

***

Penelope mumbled in her sleep, her body exhausted from the excursion of having Jezebel out to play. She snuggled deep into her unconscious mind, trying to keep herself there since she didn’t want to have to deal with the consequences of the waking world. Had she managed to hurt anyone? She didn’t want to be held responsible for that but who else would there be to blame? In all honesty, maybe it was her fault. She could have just said no to the movie. She SHOULD have just said no to the movie. But, unfortunately, she never did. She would have to face those consequences.

Just not right now.

Instead, Penelope let her mind wander away into the blackness and mutter sleepily to herself. She wouldn’t allow herself to wake up just yet. That was nightmare that she would save until she was stronger. For now…sleep…

Vicente immediately backed away the second he saw the woman begin to break down. He was confused as to why the man stopped him with that sign (where the hell did he get it?) and would have just shoved him away. But his rushed explanations began to immediately sink into his war-addled mind. He wanted this monster’s blood but the thought that she was just a young, innocent girl immediately sobered him up from that feeling.

It could have all just been a ruse and maybe this guy was working for the red woman. But as she broken down into liquids and returned to the pores of a young, dark skinned girl, he immediately felt that the story was backed up. He was thankful he was stopped.

Staring down at the young girl as she reverted to her normal state, Vicente forced himself to calm down before finally he felt that tingle again. Teeth ground as he felt pain erupt through his body until finally he himself returned to a purely human-looking state. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stared down at the young girl before he turned his attention back to the wiry man.

He sighed and nodded to him.

“T-Thank you,” he muttered. “I…I don’t know if I could have stopped myself in time.”

“POLICE! FREEZE!!” he snapped his attention back to the entrance and saw several officers enter, their guns raised. Instantly he felt bad for the young girl. But…he hoped they could handle her.

“VICENTE!” a voice shouted out. He looked up and saw his squirrely date, Cheryl, squeezing through the officers. Instantly she turned back to the cops. “He’s not the bad guy! There was a big red woman! He tried to stop her!” She turned back to him and beamed in his direction. “He’s just like the X-Men!”

Vicente arched a brow. X-Men, huh?

He sighed in relief. The woman was stopped and the bald guy didn’t kill her. He honestly didn’t know if he would have been able to stop the man himself, but he was certainly glad that he was able to help out. He would have hated for something like that to be on the man’s conscience. Taking the opportunity, he smiled briefly at the man before turning his attention back to the girl sadly. Where do they even go from here? What would the police do? Would she get into trouble? Granted, she didn’t kill anyone, but she did cause an awful lot of damage.

He definitely was glad he was not in her shoes right now.

Holding the world “CHILD” loosely in his hand, he stretched his back a bit but turned when he heard the man clear his throat for attention.

>> “T-Thank you…I…I don’t know if I could have stopped myself in time.”

Akshay grinned crookedly and shrugged.

“My pleasure. Just, you know, glad we were able to stop h—“

>> “POLICE! FREEZE!!”

Oh, lord.

The rest was a blur. The police came in, questioned them and turned their attentions to the young girl. At first they thought she was the victim but, sadly, both he and “Vicente” needed to tell the truth. They saw her shift into the monster that nearly harmed everyone in the theater. The cops then sprang into action, calling some division of the police and Akshay and Vicente were led away. The young wordsmith glanced over his shoulder though, as cops surrounded the young girl. He had to sigh.

He hoped she would be okay. After all, she couldn’t help what she was, could she? Hope. He could only hope.